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Sign the Petition to

Clerk of the House of Representatives, New Zealand Government & The Minister of Justice New Zealand & The Minister of Primary Industries, & The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee

After what we have seen and experienced, we the people of New Zealand no longer have faith in our local Councils to protect and not abuse our dogs while they are incarcerated in the Council funded pounds, that we the public pay for through our registration fee's. The pound should at a minimum be a warm dry facility that holds our dogs until we can collect them. It should hold dogs in a manner that not only meets the five freedoms, but is also humane in treatment and thought. Even the dogs deemed dangerous or are suspected as dangerous should be treated with care, respect and compassion. Our view is there are no bad dogs, only badly treated dogs. They may not be safe in the community, but they should not spend at least 12 months in hell waiting for the courts to decide their fate. While waiting for a court decision they should be kept in humane environs. We wouldn’t allow inhumane treatment our prisons and yet criminals decide to commit crimes. Dogs only do what they are taught. It is not okay for dogs to be kicked, hosed down in their cages, left without sunlight, attacked by other dogs and traumatised . This is a systemic problem where Councils believe dogs need nothing more than food. Most of these dogs are family pets that have escaped from their properties through human error. Other times they may have acted in our defence or acted out of fear. We demand our dogs are treated humanely while incarcerated. Councils (and pounds by default) should be held accountable for their actions, not only to their constituents but to the Government of New Zealand. The reforms we would like put in place are the following:
Reform 1. Rangers found to be assaulting dogs should be convicted under the Animal Welfare act. An independent organisation should be appointed to carry out training and retraining of rangers and Council officers in regards to animal welfare and ethics.
Reform 2. Security footage of all activity in Council run pounds where the dogs are housed and exercised must be held for a minimum of 12 months and must be made available to; RNZSPCA, MPI and any Animal Welfare/Rescue organisation requesting to view footage under the freedom of information act. If footage is not available then reasons for this breach must be provided together with documentation. Examples of documentation could include receipts or job cards from independent contractors engaged to complete repairs to the surveillance software or cameras.
Reform 3. In cases where complaints are brought against council run facilities and/or rangers an Independent Organisation (independent from that Council) should oversee the running of that Council Pound until that Independent Organisation together with a third party such as the RNZSPCA are satisfied that all training has been given, that the facilities are appropriate and that the ethic behind the facility is of a nature that promotes dog health and nurtures respect.
Reform 4. That all councils adopt an account system where dog owners can make payments into a council account for the purpose of paying off registrations due the following year.
Reform 5. That all councils have the same fee for registration in the following levels for; Rural Dogs, Working Dogs, Dogs in Rescue Organisations & Non working dogs with tiered fee's dependent on; Neutered/Un-Neutered, Obedience Certified, Select Owner.
Reform 6. That an independent person/s is elected by the public during Council Elections to act as "WatchDog" over the pound/s in their Area/s with the nominees being nominated by local rescue organisations in the area. Reform 7. That any necessary changes are made to relevant legislation governing the treatment of animals (whether by amending Acts of Parliament, Legislative Instruments or Subordinate Legislation) to enable the above reforms to take effect.

Signed,

Ginny Taft

This petition closed over 1 year ago

How this will help

By signing this petition you will help to bring about change in New Zealand Council Pounds and the mindsets of Councils and Government through the Reforms listed. Through legislation, and our...

By signing this petition you will help to bring about change in New Zealand Council Pounds and the mindsets of Councils and Government through the Reforms listed. Through legislation, and our voices being heard we will be able to make government and councils alike understand that your dogs' and mine have the right to be respected and housed safely until we can collect them or until they are humanely euthanaised. We are paying for a service when we pay for registration. This service should meet the standards of those of us who pay for it.

There are pounds in NZ that are working to the standards that we require and these facilities should be applauded for their efforts and used as a benchmark throughout NZ. Some of these facilities are; Napier, Wellington, Rotorua & Taupo. Napiers Rangers are of such a caliber that NZ should be proud of such people being in their service.